Two years ago a Planetary Emergency was declared because of environmental degradation. We only had a few years left to act or catastrophic events would take place; indeed, maybe it was already too late. Apparently that has changed now. AP:

The economic free fall gripping the nation may bring down one of the main environmental objectives: capping the greenhouse gases that are blamed for global warming. Democratic leaders in the House and the Senate, and both presidential candidates, continue to rank tackling global warming as a chief goal next year. But the focus on stabilizing the economy probably will make it more difficult to pass a law to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. At the very least, it will push back when the reductions would have to start. As one Republican senator put it, the green bubble has burst…

Rajendra Pachauri, head of the U.N. climate panel, said discussions about global warming solutions were “on the back burner.” Pachauri shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former Vice President Al Gore for their work on climate change. “I’m absolutely sure that climate change will be the last thing people will think about at this point in time,” he said. “Sooner or later, they will come back to it.”

“Sooner or later, they will come back to it.” My my. How things change, throughout the political spectrum, when there’s a real crisis brewing. Question: will the current global problems also mean fewer boondoggles in Bali?

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 12th, 2008 at 11:28 pm and is filed under Democrats, Republicans, Science, business, radical chic. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.